Witness Protection Program
by CaptainDaniiKirk
Summary: Hermione Granger makes it her lifes work to protect people and magical creatures in danger, but what happens when she has to protect the one person who tortured her for most of her school life.
1. One: Hermione

**A/N: Okay so people that follow me as an author probably know that I have a story already on hiatus. I apologise about that, I will finish it, but I was writing this one first and just didnt publish it. I had a sudden burst of enthusiam for it, so now I am posting it :) **

**I hope you enjoy it! **

**Please favourite, review etc :) I'm really excited about this story! So far its one of my favourites. **

Chapter 1 - _Hermione_. 

Hermione Granger slowly walked through the fireplace as she threw the powder onto the bottom.

"Ministry of Magic". She said drearily but clearly enough to not end up somewhere completely random.

Green flames engulfed her as she was transported from the small makeshift fireplace in her studio flat, to the larger fireplace that stood in the Ministry of Magic.

She rubbed her eyes sleepily as she stepped out onto the marble flooring. Maybe she shouldn't have stayed up all night reading, but she wanted to nail her latest case. It was one of her hardest yet, and she felt as if she was getting nowhere.

No matter what she did she just couldn't find a link between everything that was going on. Some of the stories seemed sacrificial, and that just didn't sit right with her. She was working as a team on it, but she just felt more responsible to find out what was going on, also with her being team leader she felt she had to.

Hermione walked into the meeting room where she was supposed to be meeting the rest of her team, to decide what they wanted to do next. No one was there yet, so she got herself a cup of coffee before sitting down and sorting her notes out. A few minutes later, her team started arriving.

Once everyone had settled down, she began to address them with the situation at hand.

"Nothing new has been found since last week. There appears to have been no attacks or kidnappings, and everything seems quiet, and honestly that scares me. You've all heard of the muggle saying 'the calm before the storm' right? So we need to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible."

Several of the other team members nodded in agreement, the rest all just look worried. A long haired blonde woman, who Hermione knew as Tracey raised her hand as if asking to take the floor. Hermione nodded to her to let her know she could speak freely.

She tossed her hair back, and began to speak with a slight Irish accent.

"These people are all convicted death eaters, or were at least involved with Voldemort at some point. Maybe that's the link."

Hermione sat there shell shocked for a moment. How hadn't she seen it before? Death eaters, of course. It had been 7 years since the Wizarding War, and she had tried to block it all out of her mind, and now she had done that so well that she failed to notice a pattern. She scorned herself for being so stupid.  
"That's it. It's got to be it. Perkins, can you go and fetch every record on all the suspicious deaths in the last 3 months please, and bring them here? We just need to be able to prove this, and work out a complete pattern so that work out what they are planning or who's next." Hermione told them.

The man named Perkins, stood up and nodded before leaving the room.

Hermione smiled at Tracey.

"Well done, what made you figure that out?"

She regretted what she had said instantly. She had forgotten that Tracey and her family used to be death eaters, but Tracey changed her ways and got put into the ministries protection program.

"Sorry." Hermione quickly apologised.

"It's okay, sometimes I forget to." Tracey replied. "Feels like I've been on the good side forever, it's nice to forget that I actually haven't." She smiled.

Perkins came back with the box of records and performed a silent spell on it to make it expand. Hermione took the box and started pouring the papers all over the table. She accio'd the long whiteboard from the back of the room and started rifling through the papers and placing pictures onto the board.

"There's method to my madness, I promise." She told the 5 other people in the room, after seeing there bewildered faces staring at her. "I'm making a timeline of when they died. Then we can see if there's a pattern. If we can work that out, we can get to the bottom of this and hopefully solve it all."

For what seemed like hours, they all worked as a team to work out time/day of death and place them into order. Eventually all the pictures were on the board and in order. A few of the faces, Hermione recognised. She tried not to let it get to her.

"Let's get some lunch and then come back to this with a fresh attitude. " Hermione suggested.

She didn't want to stop, but didn't want everyone to suffer by not eating, and admittedly her stomach was growling a bit.

After grabbing a cheese sandwich from the canteen, she sat back in the meeting room to wait for the others. She stared at the board with the board on desperately looking for a pattern. She couldn't notice a physical pattern, and there was no age related pattern.

Her team began to enter the room again.

"Yeah, they probably are just being killed by someone looking for justice."

Hermione heard the last of two of her team member's conversation as they sat down. They stopped talking the minute they saw Hermione looking at them.

"No it's okay, carry on. You may be on to something. I was thinking the same. It's almost as if someone is getting revenge." She theorised.

"Well, it looks as if someone is getting revenge, or killing off competition or something. There's no way this is all random. Every one of them has a link to the death eaters or Voldemort in some way." The woman said to Hermione.

"Okay, can you please go and get the records we have for any known death eaters. Let's see who's left on the lists." Hermione addressed the woman who had previously spoken to her, Marie Linford.

Marie nodded and left to find them.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed her and the team were finally getting somewhere.

It wasn't long before Marie was back with a long piece of parchment covered in names. Hermione quickly gave her instructions to read the names of the ones that weren't deceased, as the list automatically updates when someone on it is deceased. To their surprise, the number of confirmed death eaters that were still alive was very low. Most of them had been killed in the war, or were in Azkaban. There were only 10 names remaining that were neither dead nor imprisoned.

She quickly sent an air memo to Harry and waited for a response. Within minutes, Harry had apparated into the meeting room. Hermione explained everything they had found, and what they thought. He agreed, and took a copy of the shorter parchment with only the death eaters who were still alive names on.

"What's the plan then?" She asked him nervously.

"We're going to have to send ministry members to each of these addresses and have them all put into the protection program until we can figure out who's behind this. "

"Okay that sounds like the only reasonable thing to do."

Harry looked at Hermione with a look of sincerity.

"You do realise whose name is on this?"

Of course she did. It was the name of the person who had made her school life misery, and who no one had seen or heard from since the Wizarding War. Rumours were that he was hiding out at his parents house.

_Draco Malfoy._


	2. Two: Draco

**A/N: Okay I'm gonna put this here because there is a tiny bit where it gets dark, and I suppose it could potentially need a trigger warning. **

**Other than that enjoy. I swear it will get to the best parts soon. Just needed to 'introduce' the characters as such.  
Thanks for reading, I hope you can spare a little time to review etc :) **

Chapter 2 - _Draco_

Draco Malfoy was sitting in his families manor reading a book. He'd read most of these books over and over again, but they made him feel less alone so he didn't mind. He had the house elf Pippi that he sent out on errands for him, but other than that, he was alone. His parents had been killed after the Wizarding War after being sentenced to death. Thanks to Harry, he wasn't charged. Although he still hadn't figured out if he thought that was a blessing or a curse. He had good days and bad days. On the worst of his days, he came very close to killing himself, ending it all so he didn't have to think about it but something always brought him back. He felt he needed to be on this earth, like something was supposed to happen for him that would make everything make sense.

Draco was brought back to reality as he heard a loud banging from the front door of the manor. He had been hiding here for 7 years now, and not once had anyone come knocking.

"REDUCTO".  
Someone shouted from where the front door was now being blown to bits.

Draco grabbed his wand, from the table beside him hurriedly as 3 hooded figures walked into the study with him.

"Well, well, well. Looks like your time is up. Scum like you needs to be eradicated" said a voice that clearly had a disguising spell placed on it.

The other two hooded figures walked towards Draco. He raised his wand and started firing spells, but they deflected them with ease. One of them disarmed him as they grabbed his arms and held him tight. The person that had spoken to him before then raised his wand.

"AVADA KED-"

"EXPELLIARMUS"

The hooded figure was disarmed and turned to see Harry Potter and another dark haired man standing with their wands pointing at them. One of the people holding Draco dropped to the floor and picked up, who Draco could only assume was the leaders, wand. He nodded at the leader and as if it was already planned they all disapparated on the spot. It all happened so fast that no one could react.

"Fuck." Harry exclaimed.

"Does anyone want to explain what the fuck just happened?" Draco asked.

"Apparently you are a target. We don't know why yet, but you are. And by the looks of it we turned up at the right time." Harry explained.

"You are making a habit of this saving me thing. Anyone would think you liked me Potter."

"No, I'm just a decent human being." Harry defended himself.

Draco rolled his eyes.

"Look, I know you don't like me Malfoy but we need to get you out of here. It's not safe. We have a protection program set up, and someone will be assigned to protect you." Harry explained.

"Protect me? I'm a grown man. I can protect myself." Draco snarled.

"Evidently not. If we hadn't have shown up, you would be dead." Harry replied.

Draco knew Harry was right, but he wouldn't admit it. He decided to see what they could offer him, and if he thought he was better off without he would just bail on them.

"Come on then." Draco motioned to leave, defeated.

Harry smiled smugly, and Draco wanted to Avada Kedavra him right there. But he knew that was against his best interest. Especially if they were trying to keep him safe. He guessed the offer would be off the table if he killed 'The Chosen One'.

Harry grabbed Draco's arm and apparated to the ministry.

"Get off of me. You could have just said we're going to the ministry, I can apparate myself." Draco moaned at Harry.

"Yes, but you wouldn't have been able to get in without me."

Draco rolled his eyes again.

"Stupid Potter" He muttered under his breathe.

It looked like Harry heard him, but he didn't care.

"First we need to ask you some questions about what just happened. Please co-operate, it will make this so much easier for us all." Harry told him.

"Okay." Draco responded.

He didn't exactly want to help perfect Potter, but seen as how his life was in danger, he figured he had better really.

"First, did you see what any of them looked like? Or recognise them at all?" Harry asked, whilst the dark haired man took out a piece of parchment and a quill.

"No, they were all hooded, and the only one that spoke seemed to have a voice disguise spell on." He answered honestly.

"One spoke? What did he say?"

"They said I was scum, and that it was my turn to die."

"Anything else you can think of that may be important?"

"I'm gonna need a new door." Draco smirked.

"Okay, well that's your problem. We aren't in charge of replacing broken things on your manor, especially when we saved your life. Any way, we need to search the database and search for the best place to put you. We have lots of volunteers that signed up for the program. We just need to find the best person to protect you." Harry told him.

It wasn't long before Harry had pulled out numerous files and pictures and scattered them all over the table. Draco didn't look at the pictures, he was too scared at what nutjob he was going to be placed with. He watched Harry perform a spell on them and one of the pictures started to wriggle around on the table. It jumped into Harry's hand, and Harry muttered something to himself. Draco couldn't quite make out what it was.

"Is there any way to change this?" Harry asked the dark haired man that had accompanied him.

The man walked round and looked at the picture Harry was holding.

"Nope. It generates the best person suitable for the job, and they then become responsible. She volunteered and now she has to do this." He answered.

She. Draco thought to himself. Maybe this will be fun after all. He knew the effect he could have on women, and he wasn't ashamed to say he used it to his advantage. Hopefully she was attractive, that would make this all the more fun.

"Okay Draco, This person is our best, and if you even think of fucking her around, that's it. No more protection program. You can go back and you will easily killed by whoever is out there trying to kill you. " Harry stated.

Draco nodded reluctantly.

"Just show me." He asked impatiently.

Harry nervously turned the picture round so Draco could see, whilst throwing the file that goes with it to him. He caught if before looking at the picture. As he looked up, he saw a face he hadn't seen in a long time, and it was a face he'd happily never see again.

_Hermione Granger._


	3. Three: Hermione

**A/N: Firstly I'd like to thank all my constant readers :) Especially TJA1989 :D I can always count on you to review for me! :) Right now on with the story!**

Chapter 3 - _Hermione._

"No Harry, that's just not an option. I signed up for that expecting a nice person that needed protecting because they had got caught up in it by mistake. Not someone who is pure evil."

Hermione was pacing in Harrys office, as Harry told her the news.

"Well I'm sorry Hermione, I've tried everything but rules are rules, and there's no way of getting around this. I tried. Also he's not pure evil. I told you what happened on the tower."

"Yes well, that doesn't excuse how he treated us all through school. What's his excuse for that?" Hermione huffed.

"I don't know Hermione, okay. Just please do this. If you refuse I have to report you, and I really don't want to have to do that." Harry pleaded.

Hermione stood silently for a moment. She didn't want to have to protect Draco Malfoy, but she didn't want to be reported either.

"I guess I have no choice then. But if he steps out of line Harry, I won't be able to deal with it." She deliberated.

"Don't worry. I've already explained to him what happens if he messes up, and Frank is in one of the meeting rooms now going over the guidelines and rules he needs to follow. Draco needs to go and get supplies, so Frank is going to give him some polyjuice potion containing his hair so he can go unnoticed, but you will need to accompany him just in case. Also you need to hold onto the hip flask with extra potion in, just in case you are gone longer than expected."

Hermione groaned, but accepted what Harry had to say. Harry got up and motioned her out of his office. They walked in silence all the way to the meeting room.

They walked in to find two Franks blinking up at them.

"Ah, I see you've already taken the polyjuice potion. You better get going to Diagon Alley. We only have a limited amount the potion and you need to get in and out unnoticed." Harry said.

Frank, or rather Draco stood up.

"First I'll need your wand." Harry addressed Draco.

"No Potter, you aren't having my wand. I need it." Draco answered, clearly annoyed.

"I don't want to take it off you, it just needs some restrictions so you can't just kill Hermione and run off."

"Why should I?" Draco retorted.

"Do you want our protection or not? Actually don't answer that, but Frank went through the guidelines with you. He must have explained this to you."

"He did, but it doesn't mean I have to like it." Draco huffed, before reluctantly handing his wand over to Harry.

Harry muttered some spells and eventually gave Draco his wand back.

"There, you can only perform basic spells." Harry told him smugly.

Draco muttered something under his breathe that Hermione couldn't quite make out, but she assumed it wasn't exactly a kind word.

Before long, Hermione and Draco were walking through Diagon Alley.

"Where do you need to go first Dr-Frank?" She quickly corrected herself.

"Clothes and food." He replied bluntly.

"Okay, I know you are going to hate me for this, but unless you want to live in cloaks and only eat Zonkos sweets for the entirety of your stay in the protection program, we need to go to muggle London. Maybe go to Asda or something? They have clothes and food shopping." Hermione suggested.

"What the hell is an Asda?" Draco said, looking bewildered.

"A shop, don't worry. I'll help. You need to exchange some galleons for muggle money though."

Draco still looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Just give me your wallet."

Hermione held out her hand.

"If you steal this Granger, I will steal someone else's wand and I will hurt you." He said whilst chucking the wallet into her hand.

"Yeah okay then." Hermione laughed.  
He didn't stand a chance.

She walked into the muggle money exchange bureaux with Draco in tow. She exchanged enough for £500 in muggle money, and told Draco if he needed more to let her know.

Knowing that Draco would have no idea how to get around muggle London, she told him to keep close next to her. She had no idea if he would actually listen, but it was worth a try.

Eventually they got to Asda. Hermione grabbed a trolley and started to head inside. She turned to look at Draco, when she realised his white hair was starting to leak through Franks dark hair.

"Quick, have a swig of the polyjuice potion. You are starting to look like you again. If you suddenly turn into yourself again, I think it may confuse a few muggles." She urged.

"Personally I don't think they'd notice. They are all too dumb." He told her, but accepted the hip flask anyway.

Hermione shot him daggers with her eyes whilst he took a big glug of the potion. The white instantly turned dark again. She breathed a sigh of relief, and took back the hip flask.

"Look, I'm not going to baby you. If you see something you want, put it in the trolley. We're going to the clothes first because it's going to be a lot easier."

"So much for not babying me." Draco muttered.

Hermione chose to ignore him.

After an hour and a half of trawling through Asda, and a lot of remarks about muggles from Draco, they eventually got to the checkout. Draco looked extremely confused by the whole ordeal, and this made Hermione giggle to herself. The great Draco Malfoy, confused by the simplest of muggle things. If she could tell her younger self one thing, it would be that she got to witness this.

After Hermione paid, they pushed the trolley outside and round a corner where no one was. Hermione told Draco to keep an eye out whilst she pushed all the bags into her charmed handbag. When she had finished she started to push the trolley back to where it belonged. She was amused at Draco's expression yet again. She often forgot that people didn't know her bag was charmed so it was bigger on the inside.

"Yeah my bags like the Tardis." She joked.

She realised instantly that that joke had been wasted on him. His face just looked confused.

"Don't worry, it's a muggle thing." She rolled her eyes at him.

They made their way back to the ministry, being careful to stay off main roads incase Draco started to look like himself again. Halfway back Draco walked off into a shop. She quickly ran in after him, cursing him silently in her head. This was until she realised they were in a small book store.

"You in a bookstore. There's something I didn't think I would ever see." She sniggered.

"Shut up Granger. How do you think I was better than you all those years in school?"

"Ha. You wish."

She watched Draco pick up a few different books before walking back to her and holding his hand out. She assumed her wanted his wallet back, so she passed it to him.

He walked over to the checkout and she studied him carefully. As she suspected, he was rude to the woman that served him. He didn't speak to her at all, even though she was nothing but nice to him. Draco struggled to figure out how much to give the woman, but eventually figured it out. The woman passed him the books in a bag, and a receipt for them, and he walked back to door without even so much as a thank you. Hermione gave her an apologetic look, and the cashier smiled back, and then followed Draco out of the store.

Hermione and Draco walked back into the ministry, and just in time to, as Draco was starting to look more like Draco than Frank. Harry and Frank were already waiting for them.

"I just need a quick word Hermione, and then you are dismissed. You can take Draco to his accommodation for the duration of his protection." Harry told her.

Frank stood beside Draco as Hermione followed after Harry.

"To make this as beneficial as possible, try and get him to help with the investigation. I don't think he'll do it willingly so try and coax him into it. Eventually he will probably get placed on missions with us all, but for now it's just help from behind the scenes."

Hermione nodded in agreement, and promised to do her best.

She walked back to where Draco and Frank were standing and lead Draco to the fireplaces so that they could get to her house without too much hassle.

**A/N: Please review, favourite and follow :) Helps me get motivated to write quicker :P **


	4. Four: Draco

**A/N: This ones a tiny bit shorter, but I will make up for it, I promise. **

Chapter 4 - _Draco._

Draco and Hermione arrived in the fireplace of a place Draco didn't recognise. He looked around at his surroundings and tried to figure out where he was.  
There was non-moving pictures on the walls, which he could only assume were muggle. Books were scattered all over the tiny studio flat. The kitchen and living room were all in one, and he could see three open doors that lead into what looked like a bathroom and 2 bedrooms. Suddenly he felt something warm and furry brush along his foot. He looked down to see a big fat ginger cat purring around his feet.

"Crookshanks, stop it. Lay down." Hermione urged the big ball of fur that had started clawing its way up his leg.

It was then that he realised where he was.

"Is this your… house Granger?" He stumbled on the word house, not really sure what it was.

"Yes, and before you insult it, remember you have to stay here to until we can find something else or until the people who are after you are caught."

Hermione raised her wand and things starting moving around the place. Books fell into book cases or into neat piles and the few stray cups and plates that were lying around started to wash themselves in the sink.

She directed Draco to the darker of the two bedrooms.

"This is where you will be. Don't get any ideas because I'll be hexing all the windows and doors so you can't try and run away, and the fireplace will only work for you when I let it." She informed him. "That dresser is empty and so is that wardrobe, so you can put all your clothes in them."

"The room my house elf has is bigger than this." He joked.

Pippi. He suddenly remembered he had left his house elf behind. Before he wouldn't have cared, but over the seven years, he had actually grown fond of her. Now he had to find a way to tell Granger without her thinking that he cared.

"Talking of house elves, um, was my house checked after what happened? I mean she's a good worker, I wouldn't want to lose her." He told her carefully.

Unfortunately his voice cracked in the middle, and gave away everything.

"Wow, you actually care about something other than yourself. It's a miracle." Hermione laughed. "Don't worry; I'll get Harry right onto it."

"Thank you." He said quietly.

Hermione walked over to the fireplace and performed a silent spell on it. Before long, Harrys face appeared in it. She explained the situation and he promised he would go round there and look for her. He also asked her to ask Draco if he was okay with her being placed at Hogwarts until he was out of the protection program. Draco agreed.

"Could I have some time to get sorted? And attempt to make this box room into something I can work with?" He asked her.

"Yes, just let me sort the window out." She replied.

It wasn't long before she had cast whatever protection spells she was placing on the windows. She made to leave after announcing she was off to do the other windows and doors.

"One more thing Granger, where is the bed?" He asked, looking around puzzled.

She flicked her wand, and a bed fell from a cupboard built into the wall. Draco looked at the bed dumbfounded. Muggles had weird contraptions.

As Hermione left, Draco drew his wand from his pocket. He decided to see just what Harry had meant by only being able to do basic spells. First he tried to unpack his bag using magic. It was successful, and before long, all of his clothes were unpacked from the carrier bags that Hermione had thrown on the bed before leaving.

Draco then decided to try it further. He looked around the room and saw a spider sitting on the corner.

"Crucio." He whispered, pointing his wand at the defenceless creature.

Draco was thrown back across the room as an electric shock sensation ran through him. Hermione came running into the room.

"What the hell was that?!" She yelled.

Draco didn't respond, but slowly tried getting to his feet. He saw Hermione's eyes go to his wand.

"You tried to do a spell you aren't supposed to, didn't you." She said smugly.

"Shut up Granger." He replied angrily.

Hermione walked off giggling.

Draco stood back up slowly. He decided to try and make the room look a little better, thinking that would make him feel better. He conjured up green and black banners to place all over the room, and changed the curtains and bed sheets to green.

"Much better." He muttered aloud.

Hermione came back not long after, and stood at the door sighing loudly, followed by Crookshanks plodding along the floor by her feet before running and lying on the bed Draco was supposed to be sleeping on.

"Granger, get that creature out of here. My wand won't let me murder things, but you can't stop my hands." Draco complained.

With that Hermione cast a silent spell that seemed like a binding spell on his hands.

"Well, I didn't think you were into that kinky stuff Granger, but I'm cool with that. Makes you a little more interesting now that I know you have a dirty little secret."

"Shut up Malfoy. I did it to prove a point. Also, you'll be the last to know my dirty little secret." Hermione retaliated.

She picked up Crookshanks from the bed and left the room.

It was safe to say she had caught Draco's attention, and he definitely wanted to know what that secret was.


	5. Five: Hermione

**A/N: I am so sorry I have been MIA recently. I havent been able to get anything done. Being pregnant is hard work. Also getting stuff ready for a baby is hard work! On the plus side, he is nice and healthy and already weighing roughly 6lbs! They think he could be early as he's been measuring 2 weeks ahead the whole time. Hence why now I want to get this story done as soon as I can! Haha. This is a longer chapter than usual to try and make up for my absence! :) Please review, favourite, follow if you dont already! Thank you for your patience :) **

The next day, Hermione walked into the office, with Draco not far behind. She chose to do as Harry said and try to get Draco to help. She had decided the best idea would be to try and get him subconsciously to help, so if she immersed him with the information he may be able to help or something would trigger him to tell her something.

Well that was the plan anyway.

"So what have you got so far then?" Draco asked.

This was going to be easier than she thought. She got all her paperwork and started to explain everything to him.

"In the past few months, there have been a lot of murders. Originally we thought it was random and we even thought it may be a case that the muggle authorities would need to deal with because we first thought it was someone that happened to kill a few wizards in the process. Obviously we would help the police, but we would have had to of been careful because we only have a link with Kingsley and the head of police. But eventually after talking to the head of police, and him making a full investigation, decided there were no muggle deaths they could relate with the deaths we had told them about. So then we knew something must be up. We tried to figure it out for ages, and eventually realised the other day that they are all death eaters. Convicted and let out again, or not convicted at all. We still don't know the pattern, but there was ten people left on the list, you being one of them, and now they are all in our protection." Hermione explained.

The rest of the day she tried not to overload him with information. She let him stay in her office whilst she had a meeting with her team. Before she knew it, the day was over. She walked back up to her desk to find Draco reading a muggle story that she liked to keep on her desk. It was from her parents, and she had always loved it as a child, so she kept it at work so that if it all got too much she could come and read and it would make her feel instantly better.

"A muggle story? I thought you were above all that?" Hermione joked.

"Shut up Granger, we aren't in school anymore. I thought we were above all that?" Draco snapped.

Hermione was speechless. That was the last response she expected.

"I'm not like that anymore Granger, I know that the prejudices were wrong. That was my father's views, and.. Voldemorts. I felt like I had to follow that back then, but now I know I am stronger than that." He continued.

Hermione, still speechless, finally managed to muster up some words.

"Um, okay. Never expected you to say that, but I'm glad you have. It makes me feel a whole lot more comfortable with you."

"Don't get to comfy Granger, it doesn't mean I love you or anything." He laughed. "Also, this Cinderella lady is stupid. She should of just wished the step-mother and the step-sisters dead or something rather than wishing to go to a ball."

"That would be completely beside the point, and it wouldn't make a very good fairy-tale for children would it."

"That's what passes for a fairy-tale to muggles? No wonder they are all too stupid to notice actual magic. They are all holding out for fairy godmothers."

Hermione was offended to start with, and was about to tell him off, but realised he actually had a fair point. Maybe muggles didn't see magic because it's not what they are looking for, maybe they are looking for such big magic that they don't notice the little magic in front of them.

"Anyway, let's go. I need to go out tonight. This unfortunately means you have free reign of my home."

She wasn't going to admit she sort of agreed with him.

"Wow Granger, you actually have a life?" He smirked.

"Yes. Not that it has anything to do with you, but I'm going to dinner with Harry, Ginny and Ron."

"Oh yes, you and the weasel. How is that going anyway? Did he ever pluck up the courage to ask you out? We all know he was pining over you all the way through Hogwarts." Draco laughed.

"Shut up ferret."

Draco scowled at her, and Hermione was pleased with herself for the quick comeback. They headed down to the fireplaces and floo'd back to Hermione's flat.

Hermione rushed around when she got in, running backwards and forwards trying to get ready and tidy the flat at the same time.

"If there's anything out of place when I get back Draco, I will make you do all the housework for the rest of your time here."

"Oh you'll make me. I'd like to see you try. You don't have the lady balls to use the Imperius Curse on me." Draco laughed.

"Trust me, for you I'd happily make the exception." She smiled sweetly at him.

She started to turn away to leave, but not before noticing a small smile forming on Draco's face. She wouldn't admit that he wore that smile well of course.

Hermione reached the restaurant that her, Ginny, Harry and Ron were meeting, and saw them sitting at a window booth table. She walked in and smiled as she approached them. They all stood up to greet her. Ginny excitedly pulled her into an almost rib crushing hug. Quidditch was clearly making her stronger. Next Harry gave her a quick hug and sat back down with his arm round Ginny. Finally Ron stood up and pulled her in for a hug. She couldn't help but notice the bags under his eyes, and how rugged he looked. It reminded her of how he looked when they went to Gringotts together when she was disguised as Bellatrix. She shuddered at the thought and sat herself down next to him.

"So how have you been? I've heard a little about the case you are working on!" Ginny asked her.

Hermione knew she had to be careful what she said here. They weren't supposed to talk about cases, in case anyone was listening, and also because the less people know it's less likely they will be targeted for information.

"Yeah, it's tough but we are getting there." She smiled. "How are you anyway? How's Quidditch going? Any news on the transfer yet?"

"So good! Quidditch is perfect! The transfer is off, turns out the only reason they were testing me is because they wanted to see if I was Captain material. And well, as of the start of the new season, you are looking at the new captain of the Chudley Cannons!" Ginny replied.

Ron and Hermione congratulated her, whilst Harry beamed down proudly at her. As a couple, they had been through a lot. When Ginny chose to pursue a career in Quidditch, it took its toll on their relationship because of her travelling around and needing to constantly train. Any time she was home, Harry was usually working on a case. She remembers the day Ginny came to her front door crying her eyes out because they had mutually decided to end the relationship. Luckily, after her first year she didn't need to train quite as much, and she chose a team that was based the closest to where they lived. Eventually Harry and Ginny started seeing each other again, and got back together. Now they are engaged and doing as well as they were before, if not better.

"What about you Ron? What are you up to these days?" Hermione asked him.

"Oh you know, just helping Charlie with the dragons." He replied vaguely.

He always answered so vaguely when she asked about his life. She never knew why, but he was stubborn so she didn't force it too much.

"What your family? Are they enjoying it in Romania?" She asked carefully.

"Well they don't complain. Well Percy does, but no one cares." He almost smiled when he said this.

Hermione hadn't seen any of them apart from Ginny and Ron since the Weasleys had decided to move to Romania. They decided to go over there after the Second Wizarding War. It was too painful for them to stay here after Fred's death. Also during the battle Bill had been attacked by Fenrir Greyback. He hadn't turned into a full werewolf but he did have some werewolf tendencies, so he and Fleur decided to go over to Romania as well to stay with the family. They now had their own little family over there consisting of two young daughters Victoire and Dominique and a son, who they already picked out the name Louis for, on the way. Hermione kept meaning to travel down there, but never seemed to have the time. She vowed to herself that she would take some time off work soon and go and see them all.

The rest of the meal consisted of general chat, about current events and about people they had ran into recently from school. They even talked about going back to Hogwarts for a visit at some point. McGonagall was always asking them to go in and talk to the students. Usually Hermione and Harry would try to even if it was just for an hour.

Before she knew it, everyone was getting ready to leave and saying their goodbyes. She didn't know when she would next be able to see them all together like this again. It was so difficult with Ginny's new Quidditch season coming up and Ron only rarely making the trip back from Romania. She hugged them both tightly for a while before, before giving Harry a hug. She watched Harry and Ginny walk off hand in hand in one direction, and Ron walk off in the other before apparating home. She decided to apparate into her bedroom just in case Draco had made himself too comfortable in the living room.

As she got into her room, she made a point to bang around a little to try and alert him to the fact she was back and even coughed a little so he knew it was her. After a few minutes she slowly walked out of her room to see what the damage was. Luckily there wasn't really any mess. Draco was lying on the sofa reading one of her books with a packet of crisps on the table.

"I see, so my books are good enough for you now?" She joked.

"Only because I have ran out of books of my own to read." He replied.

"We can make another town trip tomorrow if you want to get some more?" She reasoned with him.

"Um, yeah okay. Thanks."

She stood there shocked for a moment at the fact he hadn't tried to make a witty comment and he'd actually said thanks. He didn't seem to notice.

Draco sat up from lying on the sofa and motioned for Hermione to sit down.

"I'll go to my room if you want." He told her.

"Um, no that's okay. You aren't doing any harm you can stay as long as I can share your crisps." She joked.

"Didn't you just go out for a meal? You always moan about your weight yet you still want to steal food from poor old me, even though you just ate? I don't know why you moan anyway, you are fine as you are." He trailed of near the end, and she only just heard him.

He looked away awkwardly, which was probably good because Hermione instantly started blushing. Draco shuffled the packet across the table towards her anyway.

"Thanks, I think. I'm still hungry because restaurants always charge ridiculous prices for a tiny meal. So I just always get the cheapest thing seen as how either way it won't fill me up."

"That actually makes sense. You are smarter than I give you credit for." He smirked. "I was thinking of making a meal in a minute anyway, I'm sure I can just about stretch to making you some to."

Hermione sat there for a moment, dumbfounded. Who was this person, and what had they done with Draco. There was no way that this person was the same Draco Malfoy that had pretty much tortured her in school.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to poison you or anything, I just figured we don't know how long this placement will last. We may as well at least try to get on."

Hermione still sat there shocked at what she was hearing. Draco stood up and put his hand out to her.

"Shake on it?" He asked her.

She nervously raised her hand to his and shook it. She felt like she was selling her soul to the devil or something, but supposed it was for the best.

Draco walked over to the kitchen and rifled through the cupboard that Hermione had allocated for his stuff.

"How does pasta bake sound?" He asked her.

"Yeah okay, I have garlic bread in the fridge if you want to cook that with it?" She suggested.

"Okay. Sounds good to me." He said before starting cooking.

"Do you need any help?" She asked him.

"No that's okay, you just watch TV and chill out or something."

"Well there are a few pieces of work I need to get sorted so I think I'll do that." She saw an opportunity to pick his brains to get help with the case. "I could do with your input actually. Don't worry you don't have to move, or do anything except talk."

"I think I can just about manage that Granger."

Hermione accio'd all the paperwork from the file she had in her work bag in the bedroom and starting rifling through them. She asks him a few basic questions that she already knows the answer to, just to test if he is actually cooperating, and he answers correctly. She then decided that she would go even further and ask him if he recognised any of the names. She read a few to him and he told her he knew of them. Eventually she had gotten through all the names, and asked him if he saw a link which of course they already had suspicions but to hear it from someone on the list, would pretty much confirm it.

"Well, if I am remembering rightly, they are all death eaters." He answered confirming the conclusion her team had come to.

She started to move the pictures of the deceased with her wand, so that they floated in order of when they died, before asking Draco if he saw any pattern.

"Okay it's a long shot here, but I have a feeling that's the order they joined in. It seems about right." He told her.

"Wow that actually helps a lot. So you were next on this list. Does that theory still work?"

"Yep, who else is left on the list that isn't.. y'know.." Draco asked.

Hermione moved the floating images down, and lifted the other images up.

"These are just the death eaters that are on file."

"Well, I can't think of anyone else, so I assume that's right. But there's a couple missing in the deceased pile, I don't know if that means anything, but yeah." He told her.

This worried Hermione, and she made a note of it. She watched Draco draw his wand, and switch the order of the images.

"That's the order they joined in after me."

Hermione made a note of this to.

"Don't even think about going into work! You are eating this and you can take your notes tomorrow. If whoevers doing this is a stickler for order, then they won't skip me. So as long as you don't get me killed, you'll be fine overnight. Plus it's late anyway, its 11pm and you get up at 6, that's 7 hours. I'm sure it can wait that long whilst you sleep."

Hermione looked shocked, but realised he probably had a point as she stifled back a yawn at that exact moment.

Draco put the plate in front of her with the food he had made for them on.

"Thank you." She smiled.

After eating, and letting her food settle a bit, she couldn't stop yawning again.

"Right I'm off to bed. Thank you for all your help tonight." She told him.

"No problem, you can cook tomorrow." He laughed.

"If you are lucky, yes." She said before walking through to her bedroom and shutting the door behind her.


End file.
